Lesotho Aids diary: Teacher

The BBC is following the lives of seven people from the community of St Rodrigue, in Lesotho, who will share their hopes and fears as they each struggle to live with and work through the country's HIV/Aids crisis.

Mapaseka Mphaololi | Teacher | Mantsatlala village

I am a 67-year-old teacher.

Age: 67

Lives: Mantsatlala village

Occupation: Teacher

Wishes

My wish is that I can live for much longer, along with my husband.

My other wish is that we can educate our grandchildren and give them opportunities in life.

Lesotho Aids diary: main page

I have been married for 42 years and gave birth to 11 children, although only eight are alive today.

I became a teacher in 1960 because I wanted to work with children. It is my vocation.

Teaching runs in the family. My husband was a principal for many years before he retired and five of my children are teachers.

HIV affects everything in Lesotho. Our school loses its qualified teachers because of HIV, staff and students get sick, or they have people in their own families who have the disease.

One of our teachers died because of HIV. She could not believe that she had it. Not until the very end, when it was too late and she was too sick. She was my friend. When she died it was so very sad.

In our school, when a teacher dies, there is usually no substitute to replace them, so another teacher has to take over that teacher's classes. We have children who are living with the disease and there are so many orphans in the community.

We all try to help them. We give them food from our gardens and we try to give them the shoes and clothes from our children who have grown up.

I think it is vital that more education on the disease is carried out - especially in the most remote areas.

Eight years ago, the teachers were taught about HIV/Aids. We were told to talk to our classes and our villages about it. Every school now teaches its students about the disease and our science books have information on it.

The poverty here is immense. In the school, the children are provided with lunch but they just do not have enough food. Some of the children tell us that they are very hungry, so we try to give them extra. It hurts me when they do not have enough food.

If I meet my pupils at the weekends, they always say: "Madam - I am going to pass this year because I am going to work so hard." That makes me happy.

And the parents always want me to be their children's teacher. They want me to teach them every year.

I should have retired two years ago, but I did not want to. I worry about the future and I think education is vital for our country. Teachers are not paid enough, so people do not choose it as a career. I would keep on teaching forever if I could.